#Exhibit of the Month

The history of silverware goes back over 5,000 years, but only in the 3rd millennium BC, in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, the first pieces of processed silver were made. From there, the art of working with silver spread to Persia and to Europe, where already in Roman and Greek antiquity it reached a high level of skill. Many of the techniques used then, such as casting, embossing and engraving, are still used today.

The National Museum of History of Moldova possesses a rich collection of silver items, which in a special way reflects the everyday life of people of the 18th-20th centuries. The typological range of objects that make up the collection includes both secular and ecclesiastical silverware: fruit vases, bonbonnieres, cutlery, tea and coffee preparation and serving sets, salt-cellars, handbags, snuffboxes and cigarette cases, candelabra, as well as icon cases, chalices, pectoral crosses, candlesticks, and so on.

Products of renowned jewelers, such as Fabergé, Khlebnikov, Sazikov in Russia, Elkington in England, Christofle in France or Norblin and Fraget in Poland stand out for their special quality and luxury. A significant item in the museum's silverware collection is the teapot on a stand with a spirit lamp (bouillotte), made in the Christofle workshop in France.

The Christofle workshop was founded in Paris in 1830 by Charles Christofle. The workshop, which was the court supplier of the Emperor of France Napoleon III, the Emperor of Mexico and the Tsar of Russia, created decorative and household pieces of rare beauty. It was also highly appreciated by the Royal House of Romania, which granted the workshop a supplier patent. In 1842, Charles Christofle bought a patent for electroplating, a technique that involved first coating a metal base with copper and then with nickel and silver. It was this technique that allowed him to mass-produce silver tea sets, which were very popular at the time. Tea, brought to Europe in 1610 by the East India Company, was an expensive commodity that gradually gained popularity. The oldest preserved teapots, dating from the 1670s, were small. As tea gained popularity, larger teapots began to be produced, shaped to match the fashion of the time.

According to Christofle catalogs, the model was produced in 1868 and fascinates with its elegance and refinement. The teapot has a complex design including a pear-shaped container, the surface of which is ornamented with guilloché in the Louis XVI style of the late 1780s. In the upper and lower parts of the body it is decorated with a border with tulips on protrusions, and in the center, it has an escutcheon with an engraved double frame. The teapot is equipped with a folding basket-like handle decorated with triple rings, and a lid with a knob. There are two rivets on the teapot for attaching it to the stand. A spirit lamp with a straight handle and a device for lifting the wick is fixed in the middle of the stand. The item has the Christofle stamp and is made of nickel silver.

The teapot on a stand with a spirit lamp, made in the Christofle workshop, harmoniously combines the value of a unique object and a sample of a large industrial series.

Dimensions: H.: 43 cm; W.: 24 cm.

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Publications

Journal „Tyragetia"

vol. X [XXV], nr. 2

On the question of competence of the Supreme Council of Bessarabian Oblast (August 28, 1816 - February 29, 1828)

ISSN 1857-0240
E-ISSN 2537-6330

Valentin Tomuleț, Angela Baxan

On the question of competence of the Supreme Council of Bessarabian Oblast (August 28, 1816 - February 29, 1828)

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. X [XXV], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie

Keywords: Bessarabia, the Charter on the Formation of the Bessarabian Oblast, the Supreme Council of the Bessarabian Oblast, the government of the Bessarabian Oblast, the civil governor, Viceroy (Namestnik) of the Bessarabian Oblast with plenipotentiary powers, Governor-General of New Russia and Bessarabia, Bessarabian Regional Criminal Court, Bessarabian Regional Civil Court.

Abstract: The Supreme Council of the Bessarabian Oblast as the supreme legislative, administrative and judicial authority of Bessarabia was formed from among the members of the two departments of the regional government on August 28, 1816, reorganized (in the source - established) on April 29, 1818 and authorized to carry out the organizational, administrative, economic, and judicial functions.

After the Charter on the Formation of the Bessarabian Oblast was adopted on April 29, 1918, the administrative and judicial power in the region was held by the Supreme Council. Its competence includes monitoring and verification of all matters relating to decision-making in the executive, public and economic spheres, criminal and procedural aﬀairs, and civil law; it was as well involved in all matters relating to movable, immovable, and land property. Its decisions, being approved by a majority vote, were not subject to appellate review and implemented immediately. Those who did not agree with a decision of the Supreme Council could appeal against this decision to the State Council through the Minister of Justice or the General Prosecutor.

The decisions of special importance, which required further amendments or new resolutions, were considered at the general meeting of the Supreme Council on the proposal of the Governor-General, or, in his absence, the civil governor. The amendments were to be submitted for approval to the State Council by the Governor-General or the General Prosecutor.

The Supreme Council consisted of 11 members: five members appointed (Namestnik (who held the oﬃce of President), the Governor, Deputy Governor, presidents of criminal and civil courts) and six members elected by the local nobility for a period of 3 years, whose appointment was to be confirmed by the Namestnic of Bessarabia and the regional marshal of the nobility. The Supreme Council Decisions were approved by a quorum of 6 people and were final.

The Supreme Council included: the Namestnik of Bessarabia (who held the oﬃce of President) - Lieutenant-Genral M.S. Vorontsov; the civil governor - the oﬃcial of 4th grade Catacazi; deputy governor - the oﬃcial of 5th grade Krupensky; the regional marshal of the nobility - the oﬃcial of 6th grade Sturdza; the president of criminal court
- the oﬃcial of 5th grade Kurik; the president of the civil court - the oﬃcial of 6th grade Basota as well as 4 deputes: oﬃcials of 11th grade Katargi and Donici, the oﬃcial of 7th grade Pruncul, and the oﬃcial of 6th grade Kazimir.

Particularly important issues and matters relating to changes to the normative acts were considered at plenary meetings of the Supreme Council, on the proposal of the Namestnik of Bessarabia, or, in his absence, on the proposal of the civil governor. Taken decisions, accompanied by an explanatory note of the President of the Council, through the General Prosecutor, were dispatched for the approval to the State Council. If the discussed issues were of minor importance, the presence of the President of the Supreme Council at the meetings was not mandatory. In the absence of the President, the Supreme Council presidency was taken over by the person who held the highest oﬃce in the administrative hierarchy of Bessarabia.

The Supreme Council of Bessarabia was abolished by the Regulation of February 29, 1828.

Valentin Tomuleț

Mazili and ruptași (and other social categories) in the statistics of the 1817 census

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. XI [XXVI], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie

Valentin Tomuleț

Jewish colonies in Bessarabia in the 19th century

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. V [XX], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie

Valentin Tomuleț

The establishment and activity of Lancasterian schools in Bessarabia in the 1820s-1840s

Tyragetia, serie nouă, vol. VIII [XXIII], nr. 2, Istorie. Muzeologie

Valentin Tomuleț

The establishment of special administration of city Ismail and its role in the evolution of commercial bourgeoisie (1830-1853)